no man's sky first impressions

first thing i managed to accomplish was to freeze to death. well, death doesn't seem to mean much here anyway so, okay, ferrite from rocks, got it. and sodium from plants. interesting ...

the world i'm in is actually very nice, with cartoonish but natural looking hills and caves. kudos for the procedural generator. eventually i stumble upon a crashed ship (my ship?) which triggers some sort of progression quest but i have to spend the most part of the time struggling with the ui. did i mention it's awful? yep, sorry. but i manage to craft some metal plate to fix my ship. next step is a ... signal booster? it requires some material which i promptly and obediently go collect, get it but can't figure out how to craft or build the damn signal booster from it. screw it, i decide i'll go for a walk, there's a lot to see, it seems, now that i'm not freezing to death.

at some point fiddling with the maze of inventories i discover ... "signal booster". i would swear this wasn't here a while ago! oh yeah, craft! a sort of barbecue appears in front of me. that's progress! too bad, i've strolled about a kilometer (or whatever the distance units here mean) away from the crash site, that doesn't seem right so i dismantle the thing and head back.

back at the crash site for the life of me i can't figure out how to pull out the signal booster again. i try everything except the right thing. the mission queue obstinatley instructs me to press 'E' for yabadabadoo, seemingly unaware that my new signal booster is not in proper condition. in despair, i use the only option that seems avaiable on it: discard. yeah, better start again. another walk around the cold forest, maybe?

in midst of these tribulations i suddenly see another antropomorphic entity appear. i approach. it waves. heh! i got this! i manage to wave back in less than 10 seconds, and we part ways. i figure out the F scanner, which is fun, and start to identify everything in reach. doing so, i arrive back at the crash site, where i notice another ship beside my wreck and the antropomorphic entity waiting for me, but now it starts to shoot at me. no kidding? i barely have a mining thing, dude! so i just let him kill me. i'm dead. again.

no big deal. i resurrect in front of my grave, which duly informs me that it has my stuffz. great! this is a wrold of smart graves! of course antropomorphic entity is there too. this time, it digs a hole under my feet. anticipating his intentions and with feline reflexes i jump out of it just before it's too late. but what now? i'm totally at the mercy of this psychopath! so i decide to take him for a walk. meaning, i walk away.

he shoots at me a bit, but doesn't persevere. it seems i'm not that interesting after all. so i soon head back. i'm a bit worried about my signal booster affair. i guess i'm supposed to send a signal! i got a mission !

but it's enough for today. anyway, how long is a day on this planet?

so, on a first impression, this game is indeed curious. i really can't see myself playing this for very long, but i definitely want to fix my ship, take off and travel along some stars and visit at least a couple of different planets. like those i've seen on color postcards. dunno how many it will take until it isn't worth anymore to point at objects to select menu options to make appear other objects. will see!